Amy's Most Amazing Pizza Dough

*I totally copied this from Amy's photo blog so I could have one place for the recipes I am looking for... I hope that's OK Amy....

This is seriously the best pizza crust I have ever had. I won't make any other kind and it beats out any pizza I could buy. It isn't really labor-intensive, but you do have to be home at certain times during the day for rising/punching down. You definitely will not regret making this! Thanks to my dear friend, Elizabeth, who posted about this on her blog!



Recipe adapted from here.

This makes enough for our family of two adults and one toddler (our 7-month-old doesn't eat this yet) to have for dinner plus a little for leftovers the next day.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
• 3 teaspoons dry yeast (from 1 envelope)
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 1/2 cups (about) unbleached all purpose flour

Directions:

1. Pour 1 1/2 cup water into large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over; stir to blend. Let stand 10 minutes to dissolve yeast.
2. Add oil and salt, then 3 cups flour. Stir until well blended (dough will be sticky).
3. Turn dough out onto generously floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, adding just enough flour to prevent dough from sticking, about 5 minutes (dough will be soft).
4. Shape dough into ball; place in large oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with kitchen towel. Let dough rise at cool room temperature until almost doubled, about 2 hours.
5. Punch dough down; form into ball. Return to bowl; cover with towel and let rise until doubled, about 3 hours.
6.Preheat oven to 500°F. Punch down dough. Form into ball, roll out to desired thickness and place on cornmeal-lined baking sheet. Let rest 30 minutes.
7. Add toppings. Bake on topmost oven rack for 12-15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Minestrone Soup

Makes 8 cups

3 cups water
1 TBS chicken Bullion (1 1/2 tsp shirleys)
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes undrained
1 15 oz can green beans drained
1 lb cooked lean ground beef (can substitute left over roast etc.)
1tsp oregano
1tsp basil
1/2 tsp old bay seasoning
*1 15 oz can beans, drained and rinsed* optional

Put all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. You can allow it to simmer for a while if you'd like and 4-13 minutes before serving add

6-8 oz dry noodles of your choice

Cook until noodles are tender and serve.

Approx 165 calories per 1 cup serving (without beans).

Thai Noodle Salad

• 12 ounces angel hair pasta
• 5 cups shredded napa cabbage
• 4 cups shredded carrots
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
  1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
  1 bunch chopped mint
• 1 bunch fresh green onions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 18 oz cooked diced chicken

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
• 5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  
  
  
  
  
  

Directions

(Use a food processor to shred the carrots)

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Break pasta into small pieces and add to boiling water; cook for 4 minutes or until al dente; drain. In a large bowl, toss together the pasta, cabbage, carrots, red bell peppers, 1/2 of the cilantro, 1/2 of the onions, and chicken.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter, tahini, rice wine vinegar and sweet chile sauce. Season with soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Ten minutes before serving, toss the sauce with the cabbage mixture until evenly coated. Garnish with remaining cilantro and green onions. Optional garnish: peanuts and sesame seeds.

Eat cold. Makes great left overs. 

Makes 17/1 cup servings 175 calories per serving. 

Adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/thai-noodle-salad-2/detail.aspx

Banana Streusel Muffins

photo credit

These are amazing and just 76 calories per muffin.

Once I forgot to add the oil and they came out just great too-

66 calories without oil.

This recipe makes about 28 regular sized muffins. I often use the extra batter to make two or three extra large muffins to which I add chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 375 and spray muffin tins or paper lined muffin tins with non stick spray. 

In food processor mix:

2 TBS cold butter

3 TBS all purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1tsp cinnamon

Process until crumbly. Empty into a small bowl and set aside.

Process two large bananas in the emptied food processor bowl until smooth.

(I only wash the food processor bowl after the bananas)

In a large bowl mix together:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 TBS ground flax seed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon (can omit or add more)

In a medium sized bowl mix together:

1 cup plain fat free yogurt (nutritional info is based on Greek yogurt)

2 TBS canola oil (can use olive or other veg. oil)

2/3 cup egg beaters (or two eggs)

Pureed bananas

Mix liquid mixture into dry mixture just until combined - over mixing can cause tough muffins.

I use a standard size ice cream scoop (1/4 cup) to fill the muffin tins. It's amazingly quick and easy - no spills! Sprinkle the top of each muffin with 1/2 TBS of the streusel mixture. (You will probably have some left over)

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Check at 18 min. as you don't want to overcook these.
I think I will try these with pumpkin and maybe blueberries too.

Nutritional info. per muffin: 75.8 calories, 1.7 g fat, .4g saturated, .5 polyunsaturated, .7 monounsaturated, Cholesterol 1.1 g, 56.9 Sodium, 66.7 Potassium, 12.6 carbs, .9 fiber, 4.8 sugars, 2.7g protein, vit.A 1.8%, vit C 1.2%, Calcium 1.2%, iron 2.7%